People wear shoes to protect their feet, reduce the shock to their feet and ankles from physical activity, and to provide support and comfort. Good footwear need to be comfortable, well-cushioned to support the feet during the activities. The bottom of a person's foot comes into contact with, and is supported by, the sole structure of their footwear so the sole is the most important part of a shoe that must be particularly well made for solid and comfortable support.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,987 B1 discloses a foot heel massaging device that is located in the heel of a shoe to massage the foot heel of a person wearing the shoe. The device consists of a fixed member located fixedly in the shoe heel, a movable member located movably on the fixed member and provided with a plurality of massaging knobs, a confining member for confining the fixed member and the movable member, and two magnets located respectively in the fixed member and the movable member. This invention uses the magnetic repulsion to turn the messaging knobs into circular motion to message the foot. It provides the shoe with a new function of massaging. It doesn't permit rapid vertical movement, such as the quick rebound that is required by the sports player.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,689,464 B2 discloses a magnetically-supported article of footwear that primarily supports a wearer's weight by repulsive magnetic forces from magnets arranged in and around the article's sole. The magnets are arranged between and around the article's insole and outsole and may be attached to pairs of magnetically-conductive plates located down the length of the article's sole. This invention provides a magnetic cushion to the traditional footwear. Its fixed bolts and nuts structure of the magnetic plates makes it bulky in dimension and it is only designed as a structure of exterior attachment.
In our article, we design a new type of shoe sole that can switch its function mode between the hi-rebound sports performance mode and the regular cushioning support mode. We use different foaming material for the different zones of the shoe sole via the injection molding and insert a compact MagLev module into the cavity located in the heel zone. This compact MagLev module can generate a quick-action magnetic repulsion force which aids in the rebound of the sports player greatly. It can also be replaced with a soft elastic cushion module when less reaction force but more comfort is desired. Compared with the prior arts in the sports shoe field, our article makes the most efficient use of the magnetic repulsion force that can be derived from our detachable compact MagLev module. It is designed with high performance in mind for sports players and well suited for any intensive sports activity such as the ball game and the track and field activity. When the players are not using it for intense sports activity, they can wear it in regular mode by replacing the compact MagLev module with a soft elastic cushion module. With this unique design, the sports shoe becomes versatile for the same wearer experiencing different condition.